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Adam and Eve, Noah’s Ark, Moses and the Ten Commandments, the parting of the Red Sea. These are a few of the stories from the Old Testament. And then there’s the New Testament, with its account of the life of Jesus, the Good Samaritan, the raising of Lazarus and the feeding of the five thousand. Whatever our creed or background, these stories are embedded in our consciousness. They inform our everyday speech and much of our art, music and literature – from Cranach’s depiction of Adam and Eve to C.S. Lewis’s Narnia stories and Stormzy’s ‘Blinded By Your Grace’. Together the Old Testament and the New Testament make up the Holy Bible. The Old Testament contains the sacred scriptures of the Jewish faith, while Christianity draws on both Old and New Testaments, interpreting the New Testament as the fulfilment of the prophecies of the Old. But which of these books is the greater? Arguing in favour of the Old Testament were novelist Howard Jacobson and writer Anne Atkins. Opposing them, arguing in favour of the New Testament, were the Rev. Richard Coles, the Radio 4 presenter who went from pop star to priest; and theologian Robert Beckford. The debate was chaired by the award-winning comedian, author, screenwriter and director David Baddiel.

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